The present invention is a direct attempt to improve the functionality and performance aspects of commercially available, horizontal, form, fill and seal packaging machine. Specifically, improvement of the machine's forming and sealing tool assemblies with the focus on simplifying the tool changeover process, shortening the vacuum and vent cycle times, elimination of air leaks throughout the tooling structure, and the overall tooling durability.
To prevent vacuum/vent cycle leaks, the previously-available designs, of the forming and the sealing tools, relied heavily on a long and fragile seal, positioned on the top surface of both the forming and the sealing base.
Unlike the previous designs, the new design incorporates a plurality of small o-rings, positioned inside the forming and sealing o-ring tool base. Said o-rings, when interacting with the nozzle protruding from the forming or the sealing base, provide more dependable and more durable, method of sealing off the internal structure from the environment. The new design also reduces the air volume inside the tooling structure, allowing for more reliable and significantly shorter, vacuum and vent cycles.
The new forming and sealing tool assemblies offer four distinctive functional advantages, over previously-available forming/sealing tool designs:
1) Reliable vacuum and vent cycles. Accomplished by replacing the previously used seal, located on the top surface of the forming and sealing tool, with a plurality of o-rings located inside the o-ring hole of the forming and sealing tool, made to interact with a nozzle, guiding the vacuum/vent cycles. Whereby said o-ring, due to its size and a guarded position inside the o-ring hole, reduces the likelihood of air leaks and damage, frequently occurring during the tool changeover.
2) Accelerated machine indexing process. Accomplished by integrating into the forming and sealing base of the vacuum/vent cycles directing nozzles, allowing for directing vacuum/vent cycles pass the internal structure of the base, significantly reducing the amount of space filled by said vacuum/vent cycles, thereby accelerating the optimum cycle time of the machine.
3) Simplified tool changeover procedure. Accomplished by reducing the weight of the tooling needing replacement during the tool changeover process. Specifically, the tool changeover requires only the removal of the forming/sealing bottom sub-assemblies, allowing the forming and the sealing base to remain attached to the structure of the machine. This reduction of weight, allows an individual to exchange said sub-assemblies by using the removable handles, attachable to the forming/sealing tools.
4) Extended life cycle of the seal gasket. Accomplished by incorporating a plurality of squeeze limiters into the design of the sealing tool assembly. Specifically, the squeeze limiters are the rectangular stop blocks protruding from the side walls of the sealing tool, extending above the top surface of the sealing tool, absorbing the chamber's primary force, and preventing it from bottoming out on the seal gasket itself.